Anchoring device for posts.



PATENTED FEB. 12, 1907.

1?. T. BAILEY. ANGHORING DEVICE FOR POSTS.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 20,1906.

s v 4 ,Tu l

PERCY TRIPP BAILEY, OF MIDDLETOWN, RHODE ISLAND.

ANCHORING DEVICE FOR POSTS- Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 12, 1907.

Application filed February 20, 1906. Serial No. 302.095.

T0 aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, PERcY TRIPP BAILEY, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Middletown, in the county of Newport and State of Rhode Island, have invented a new and Improved Anchoring Device for Posts, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

The purpose of the invention is to provide an anchoring device for metal fence-posts, which devices are applied to the posts prior to their being driven or set in the ground, and the anchoring devices are such and the bearings for them are so constructed that when the anchoring devices are driven down they curve outward from the posts as they enter the ground, thus insuring the posts standing firmly in an upright position even when subjected to severe lateral strain or when sustaining heavy blows at the side.

A further purpose of the invention is to provide means for upper and lower sets of anchoring devices for each post, the lower set being at right angles to the upper set, and to provide a construction of anchoring devices which is economic, simple, easily applied, and easily operated.

The invention consists in the novel construction and combination of the several parts, as will be hereinafter fully set forth, and pointed out in the claims.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which similar characters of reference. indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.

Figure 1 is a side elevation of the improved post, showing the anchoring bars or devices in full driven position. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of a post, showing the side which is at right angles to that shown in Fig. 1 and illustrating the lower anchoring devices as fully driven and also one of the upper devices, the other upper device being in the position in which it is placed prior to the post being inserted in the ground. Fig. 3 is a sectional side elevation of the post, showing the same side as is shown in Fig. 1 and illustrating one of the lower anchoring devices driven and the other in its entering or normal posi.

tion. Fig. 4 is a horizontal section taken substantially on the line 4 4 of Fig. 1. Fig. 5 is a side elevation of the lower portion of a modified construction of post and anchoring devices, and Fig. 6 is a horizontal section taken substantially on the line 6 6 of Fig. 5.

A represents a metal fence-post which is T-shaped in cross-section, as best shown in Fi 4, comprising a head member 10 and a we member 11. A plate 12 is located at the lower end of the post A, being in engagement with the outer longitudinal edge of its web member 11, as is shown in Fig. 2, and the said plate is held parallel with the head member 10 of the post by means of an upper set of bolts 13 and a lower set of bolts 14, the corresponding bolts of the upper and lower sets being in vertical alinement, and the bolts of both sets are located at each side of the web member 11 of the post.

Between the center and the lower end of the post A opposing socket-plates B are located, one in engagement with the head 10 of the post and the other being opposite the outer longitudinal edge of the web 11, as is best shown in Fig. 4. This socket-plate is provided with an upper bridge or strap section 15, and said bridge or strap sections are located one opposite the central portion of the head 10 of the post, the opposing strap or bridge section being centrally located with respect to the outer longitudinal edge of the web-section 11.

7 Each socket-plate B is provided upon its outer face, immediately below the strap-section 15 thereof, with an offset 16, and the outer faces of the said offsets are very much wider at their bottom than at the top. In fact, the top portions of the offsets practically merge into the socket-plates B just below the strap-sections 15, as is, indicated in Figs. 1 and 2. These socket-plates B are held together by bolts 17, engaging with the longitudinal edges of the head 10 of the post, as is best shown in Fig. 4.

In connection with the post A two sets of anchoring devices are employed, a lower set C and an upper set D. Each anchoring de vice consists of a fiat bar of metal of suitable length, and the lower ends 18. of the said bars are more or less pointed. The anchoringbars 0, the lower set, are made to engage with opposite sides of the web 11 of the post and are made to pass down between the upper bolts 13 at the lower end of the post and the side faces of the web 11 of the post, and before a post is driven or placed in the ground these lower anchoring-bars C are driven downward until their pointed ends engage with the lower bolts 14 at the outer faces of said bolts, as is shown at the left in Fig. 3, so as to give to the lower ends of the said lower anchoring-bars a downward and outward curvature more or less well defined. The upper anchoring-bars D are made to pass down through the strap or bridge sections 15 of the socket-plates B to an engagement with the outer curved surfaces of the offsets 16 on said plates, and before a post is driven or set in the ground these upper bars D are driven downward until ,their lower ends have reached the lower portions of the offsets 16 and have been made to conform to the curvature of the .outer faces of said offsets, as shown to the left in Fig. 2. The anchoring devices having been thus disposed of, thepost is either driven or set in the ground, after which, by means of a suitable instrument, the upper ends of the lower anchoring-bars O are engaged, and the said bars are forced down until they are driven well into the earth, having a decided curvature outwardly from the post, the said lower bars extending in opposite directions, as is shown in Fig. 1. Then the same instrument is applied in like manner to the upper anchoring-bars D, and they are driven down until they extend into the ground in opposite directions with a decided curvature outwardly from the post, and by reason of the upper set of anchoring-bars D being at right angles to the lower set of anchoring-bars C an additional anchoring effect is obtained to that gained by the extension of the curved anchoring-bars into the ground from the side portions of the post.

In Figs. 5 and 6 I have illustrated a slight modification in the construction of the post, wherein a block E is either cast with the post or is attached thereto at its lower end, and the said block E is provided with four faces 19, Which are curved downwardly and outwardly, as is indicated in Fig. 5, and at the upper end of the said block a head 20 is formed, from which head the lower end of the post extends. In this head 20 four slots 21 are produced, one opposite each side 19 of the block E, and four anchoring-bars F are employed in this construction of the post, the said anchoring-bars being of the same construction as those heretofore described. The anchoring-bars F are made to enter the slots 21 and when driven down travel along the curved faces 19 of the block E and asbars or devices are not needed but they may be employed if found desirable.

It will be understood that. I do not restrict myself to any particular form of post.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent 1. In a post-anchoring device, anchoringbars slidable thereon, and arranged in pairs, one pair above the other and the bars of the upper pair being at approximately a right angle to those'of the lower pair and guides for the bars carried by the post, which ides direct said bars outward as they are di iven down,

2. In a post-anchoring device, anchoringbars slidable upon the post, socket-plates having a bridge or strap section and below the same means for deflecting the anchorbars, said bridge-sections operating as keepers for the bars and the deflecting means being adapted to curve the bars and direct them outward from the post as said bars are driven down. I

3. In a post-anchoring device, initially straight anchoring-bars mounted to slide upon opposite side faces of the post, guides for the said bars secured to the post, at different points longitudinally along the post and directing elements carried by the guides, with which the said bars engage as they are driven downward, said directing elements having such relation to each other and to the bars as to give the said bars, whendriven down, a curvature outwardly from the post.

4. A post, upper and lower sets of anchoring-bars mounted to slide at opposite faces of the posts, the anchoring-bars of the upper set being at right angles to the anchoringbars of the lower set, independent guides for each set of anchoring-bars, and directing elements carried by the said guides, whereby as said bars are driven downward to curve and direct the bars outward from the post.

5. In an anchoring device for postshaving a head member and a web, the combination with upper and lower bolts connected with the head and extending parallel with the ITO web, of bars passing between the upper bolts and the web and along the outer side of the lower bolts, the latter serving to deflect the bars substantially as set forth.

6. In a post-anchoring device the combination of upper and lower sets of anchoringbars, the bars of the upper set being at approximately right angles to those of the lower set, substantially as set forth.

7. The combination with a post having a head-section and a web-section, of a plate fitted against the edge of the web-section opposit-e the head-section, bolts connecting said plate with the head-section and adapted to form with the web a guide for anchoringbars and means below the said bolts for defor securing suchseparate device in connec- Io fleeting the anchor-bars driven through said tion with the post, substantially as set forth. guides. In testimony whereof I have signed my 8. The combination of a post, a separate name to this specification in the presence of device alongside the post and having means l two subscribing witnesses. arranged for operation independent of the PERCY TRIPP BAILEY. lengthwise movement of the postfor guiding Witnesses: and deflecting an anchoring-bar,--an anchor- CLARK BURDroK, ing-bar operating in saiddevice, and means GRACE ADELE JOHNSON. 

